衆院選投票始まる　深夜に大勢判明【２１衆院選】

　第４９回衆院選は３１日午前７時から、全国４万６０００カ所余りの投票所で投票が始まった。午後８時までに締め切られ、約２０００カ所の開票所で直ちに開票作業が始まり、深夜にも大勢が判明する。１１月１日未明に全４６５議席（小選挙区２８９、比例代表１７６）が確定する見通しだ。
　総務省によると、午前１１時現在の推定投票率は１１・３２％で、前回衆院選に比べ０・９２ポイント減だった。
　衆院選は２０１７年１０月以来４年ぶり。連立与党の自民、公明両党と、立憲民主党を中心とする野党勢力が政権をめぐって争う構図。新型コロナウイルス下で初の大型国政選挙で、コロナ対策や経済立て直しが争点となった。発足間もない岸田政権に加え、この４年間に国のかじ取りを担った安倍、菅両政権の評価も問われる。
　立候補者は現行制度で最少の１０５１人。岸田文雄首相は与党による過半数（２３３）維持を勝敗ラインと位置付けた。立民は共産党、国民民主党、れいわ新選組、社民党の４党と２１３選挙区で候補者を一本化し、政権交代に挑んだ。
　投開票が衆院の任期満了日（１０月２１日）の後にずれ込んだのは現行憲法下で初めて。内閣発足から衆院解散までは１０日間、解散から投開票までは１７日間でともに戦後最短だった。（2021/10/31-12:49）

Voting started on Sunday morning for a House of Representatives election in Japan, with attention focused on whether the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will secure 233 seats, or a simple majority, in the 465-seat all-important lower chamber of the country's parliament.
   About 46,000 polling stations across Japan opened at 7 a.m. (10 p.m. Saturday GMT). Vote counting will begin as soon as balloting ends at 8 p.m.
   The Lower House election is the first parliamentary poll held nationwide since last year's outbreak of COVID-19 and since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office early this month. It serves as an opportunity for voters to decide whether to give a fresh mandate to Kishida's administration to deal with the viral crisis and the country's slumping economy.
   Kishida's LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, face the challenge of five opposition parties fielding unified candidates in 213 of the Lower House's 289 single-seat constituencies, aiming to improve their chances of beating ruling bloc candidates.
   The LDP, which scored a landslide victory in the previous Lower House election in 2017, is widely expected see its strength reduced, in the face of the unified candidates of the opposition camp led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and public frustration over the government's responses to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues, including money scandals involving former LDP lawmakers.